Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, at the Sungei Pelek DAP Branch Dinner held to commemorate the branch’s official opening on Thursday, 26th Nov. 1981 at 8pm
DAP calls on the Mahathir Administration to fully integrate Chinese and Tamil primary schools into the national education system by doing away with their classification as ‘national-type’ schools, and naming them instead as National Chinese primary schools or National Tamil primary Schools
Yesterday in Parliament, the UMNO Parliament Member for Matang, Haji Hashim bin Haji Ghazali, asked the Minister of Education whether the government intended to end the classification of primary schools into national and national-type schools, by the conversion of all national-type primary schools into national primary schools.
The Deputy Education Minister, Haji Suhaimi Kamarrudin, in his presidential address to the UMNO Youth General Assembly in June last tear, himself called on the Government to implement Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the 1961 Education Act, which is to convert Chinese and Tamil primary schools into national primary schools.
Although Haji Suhaimi, in answering Haji Hashim’s question in Parliament yesterday, said that the government had no plan at the moment to convert Chinese and Tamil primary schools into national primary schools, on the ground that the Cabinet Review Committee on Education had recommended that “for the moment, Chinese and Tamil primary schools be allowed to continue”, the question is for how long Chinese and Tamil primary schools would be allowed to continue?
In the early 1970s, there was a very serious proposal to convert Chinese and Tamil primary schools into national primary schools through the implementation of Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the 1961 Education Act.
There was no doubt that if the Barisan Nasional had succeeded in wiping out the DAP in the 1974 general elections, the Barisan Nasional leaders would have used the occasion as a mandate for to implement Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the 1961 Education Act.
This was why in the 1974 general elections, there was such a serious attempt to crush the DAP. The late Tun Razak even visited Peking to meet with Chairman Mao Tse Tung, and during the 1974 general elections, pictures of Chairman Mao Tse Tung were plastered all over the country as if Chairman Mao himself was a candidate in the Malaysian general elections, or that he had taken over as Chairman of the Barisan Nasional. A subtle campaign was directed by Barisan election workers to convey the message that if they voted for Barisan, they would be voting got Chairman Mao Tse Tung!
In the event, although the other opposition parties were virtually wiped out, the DAP stood our ground, which was all the more remarkable and impressive, and gave those who wished to implement Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the 1961 Education Act second thoughts.
But there is no doubt, from Haji Suhaimi’s own speech as UMNO Youth Leader last year, and from Haji Hashim Ghazali’s question in Parliament yesterday, there are people in high political quarters who are waiting for the opportune time to implement Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the 1961 Education Act.
Chinese and Tamil primary schools should not be regarded as something, temporary to be done away with when the politically opportune time could be found.
It must be regarded as fully part of the mainstream of national education system, which will be as permanent a feature of the education system as the national primary schools.
In this connection, I call on the Mahathir Administration to give unqualified recognition to the permanent place of Chinese and Tamil primary schools in the education system. The Mahathir Administration should fully integrate Chinese and Tamil primary schools into national education system by doing away with their classification as ‘national-type’ schools, and their being named instead as National Chinese primary schools or National Tamil Primary Schools.
In keeping with their status as part and parcel of the integral national education system, they should receive equal share of educational development expenditures, and not as at present, the Chinese primary Schools getting only some 7% of total development expenditures for primary schools in the country.
Another essential step to fully integrate Chinese and Tamil primary schools into the national education system is to repeal Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the Education Act 1961, for when Chinese and Tamil primary schools are raised to the status of National Chinese and Tamil primary schools, Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the 1961 Education Act becomes redundant.
The question of conversion of Chinese and Tamil primary schools into national primary schools would not arise anymore, for Chinese and Tamil primary schools would become permanent features of the national education system by being accorded the recognition as National Chinese and Tamil primary schools.
In this connection, Haji Suhaimi Kamarrudin, as the Deputy Education Minister and MP for Sepang, owes not only the people of Sepang but the people of Malaysia, a clear-cut clarification of his approach and attitude to the future of Chinese and Tamil primary schools. Does Haji Suhaimi still believe, and is dedicated, to the implementation of Clause 21 ( 2 ) of the 1961 Education Act to convert Chinese and Tamil primary schools as he announced in UMNO Youth General Assembly last year. If so, let him be courageous enough to declare it. If he is of that mind, where he is committed to the conversion of Chinese and Tamil primary schools into national primary schools, then Haji Suhaimi is not fit and qualified to be Deputy Education Minister.